The fluorescent lights of the Marion County Council chambers glared late into the night Thursday as local officials gathered to approve what was advertised as a routine economic development resolution. What unfolded, however, was anything but routine.
Behind the legal jargon of A Resolution Authorizing the Execution and Delivery of a Fee In Lieu of Tax and Incentive Agreement by and between Marion County and Eagle Myra, LLC, formerly identified as Project Liberty lies a pattern increasingly familiar to small Southern counties: a carefully cloaked corporate deal offering vast tax breaks in exchange for vague economic promises and almost no public oversight.
Project Liberty, a code name used during closed door negotiations, was formally revealed last night as Eagle Myra, LLC a limited liability company with no public footprint, no listed website, and a mailing address leading only to a Columbia law firm known for structuring incentive deals across the Southeast.
The resolution approved by the County Council commits Marion County to accept Fee-In-Lieu-of-Tax (FILOT) payments instead of regular property taxes on whatever facility Eagle Myra intends to build. These fees will likely be a fraction of conventional rates, locked in for up to forty years.
https://samueleburns.substack.com/p/project-liberty-exposed-how-a-secret
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